The Beach!

We had a great trip to the beach for Memorial Day weekend. We had beautiful weather all weekend long and the ocean was like a lake and as clear as I have ever seen it! It made for great swimming...and also great for jellyfish and sting ray sightings--yikes! Hudson loved swimming in the ocean and of course the pool. We had to bribe him down to the beach or else he would have just stayed at the pool the whole time. He actually played in the sand too! Much improved over the past few years where he wouldn't even set foot in the sand!

We had a rough first couple of days though with Harrison, including the trip down there which consisted of Harrison wailing for two hours straight. Poor buddy, he just wasn't feeling all that great. The only places he was happy the first few days were in the pool, in the baby pool on the beach, or when he slept. If he wasn't in one of those places, he was screaming! It was a little stressful and I was just about ready to come home! It was not my idea of a relaxing vacation! (I have no idea why I had it in my mind that vacations these days are relaxing.) He did sleep great though. They both slept great! No complaints about that! By Saturday, he was thankfully back to himself. Carrie and Andres joined us down there on Thursday night and Hudson was in heaven! They slept in the room with him and he was so excited! We are so glad that they came down because it made it so much more fun!

Check out Harrison's pink float! The package had a picture of a float that was blue and green and of course when I opened it up, it was pink. Oh well, it worked all the same!

Hudson was such a fish. He literally swam in the pool or in the ocean for like 6 hours each day. He was one worn out boy at the end of each day! He did great on his swimming, but I'm not going to lie, I put the puddle jumper on him at times when he wanted to be a little more daring than I could handle.

This little baby pool, while ugly, might have been the best purchase. Harrison would sit in it for long periods at a time and just loved it! He splashed like crazy and even figured out how to reach over the side and dig in the sand (and eventually put it in his mouth!). He didn't seem to care a bit! You should have seen the bath tub every night though. There was some serious sand in there from these boys!

They were not feeling any kind of photo shoot on this day, but they looked cute anyway.

Why do I love this picture below so much???

Probably because this is what happened shortly thereafter! :)

We usually cook a lot when we go down to the beach because it's just easier with kids to not have to rush in and get ready and they are always exhausted by the end of the day anyway, but I decided this trip that I was not cooking. Not sure that was the best idea in hindsight, but we ate some really good food! Our most daring night out was to Seagrove V on Friday night. That place has no high chairs, and no kid's menu, so clearly, they are not catering to families, but we wanted to try it and it didn't disappoint! Hudson's dinner was only $17! Ha! But, it sure was good! We all loved our food and we sat outside, so the kids didn't bother anyone. Harrison lost it at the end, but it was hot and he was tired, so I don't blame him! Carrie and Andres checked out the new bar in Seagrove afterwards, and said it was great too!

We also went to the Donut truck in Alys Beach a couple of mornings, which was fun, and then had lunch at a couple of places in Rosemary, the Summer Kitchen Cafe, which was really good and chill, and then Cowgirl Kitchen, which I had high hopes for and it really wasn't all that great. We did Louis Louis for dinner too, and it was good, but exactly the same as Red Bar, which we also did on Saturday night. We came prepared for a tailgate and had just taken a couple of sips of some cocktails when our buzzer went off. The wait was only a few minutes. It was shocking really. I guess that is what you get when you go at 6. You beat the crowd. Anyway, the food was awesome as always. Here we are at our tailgate. Harrison was taking a cat nap in the car.

He woke up happy though!

We love these two so much! Hudson just adores them and Harrison is coming around. He no longer screams when Carrie holds him, so that's progress! :) We did end up deciding to stay in on Sunday night and Carrie and Andres cooked us the best meal! We were so grateful for that.

The pirate towel was such a hit. Not sure if Jenny B. reads this, but if you do, thank you so much! So cute!

After a 7 hour ride back yesterday (traffic on 65--need I say more?), we are glad to be home! Thankfully, Harrison was a dream baby on the way back, although when we were sitting on 65 for a solid hour, I did get him out of the carseat. Not sure we would have made it otherwise! It was a great trip and we can't wait until the next trip down there soon!

Last Day of School and Birthday Parties

Hudson's "last day of school" for the year was last Friday. He goes in the summer too, but this was technically the last day of the school year. Anyway, I am so glad I took a picture on his first day of school this year so I could compare. Here he was last September...

And here he was last Friday...

He has grown about a foot and just looks so much like a little boy now. It is amazing how much they change! It just reminds me how fast time is flying. The end of the school year marks a week off from school, so he is enjoying a bit of a break this week. I'm not sure Harrison has enjoyed his week so far (he's been sick since last Thursday), but I think maybe he on the mend. I sure hope so! This was the first time that he has had a fever for an extended period of time and while it was so sweet that he would lay on my shoulder for hours on end, that is not him. We get laughed at all the time because he is so wiggly. He's so hard to hold. Anyway, work has been insane for me lately, but I finally feel like I can breath again tonight...first night in a few weeks that I haven't worked until 11! It has been rough, but it is over and I plan on enjoying myself these next few days on vacation!

We have had a busy past couple of Saturdays. On May 12th, we had Haines' 3rd birthday party. They had it at the Lighthouse at the church, which was awesome! They started the party off with the fire truck coming and that was of course a hit with my little guy! He was not very kind to the others who wanted to hop in the front seat. He hogged it. After playing on the fire truck for a while, they went inside the gym where they had the bouncy house. The kids wore themselves out...it was fabulous! 

I love this picture! These boys are becoming fast friends. All I hear about these days is Haines this, Haines that...he loves him.

I also love the group shot on the fire truck! I love how you can never get all the kids to look at one time. They are all doing their own thing!

This past Saturday, we went to Caroline Draney's 3rd birthday party. It was a Kindermusic party and was so much fun! Caroline has been taking Kindermusic every week and had her teacher come and do a class with us.  I wish I had been able to take more pictures, but I had both kids by myself and it required adult partipation too, so I had my hands full. It was such a great idea though. The kids loved it!

We have also almost wrapped up swim lessons. They had their 7th of 8 lessons last night. I am totally blown away with these swim lessons. Last week, Hudson decided that he could swim on his own. The goal for these lessons was just to buy me some time in case he fell in...well, he is able to swim a little ways by himself. He was jumping in the water and turning around and going back to the wall, floating on his back, and is constantly underwater. It amazes me and scares me all at the same time! Ha! I think we are going to have to watch him like a hawk! Both Hudson and Haines are doing so well and it is going to be a sad day when these lessons are over. I'm not sure how I'm going to explain to Hudson that we are done. He is not going to understand.

Well there is an update over the past couple of weeks. Hopefully, I can be back on track with the blogging from now on.

Mother's Day

I'm glad I got the chance to take a couple of pictures with my cuties the morning of Mother's Day because the day went downhill from here. I barely got through lunch with my family at Old Overton before spending the rest of the afternoon and evening hovering the toilet with a nasty stomach bug! Not my most favorite Mother's Day memory in the last 4 years! Thanks to Harrison who brought it home from school last Thursday, it has now covered our family and Joel's Dad and brother too.

I gave Joel "Husband of the Year" honors on Sunday, but then promptly took those honors away on Monday when he came down with the bug. Seriously, men are such babies! I did not request a single thing on Sunday, but you would have thought he was dying on Monday--even told me I was making him suffer because we had no Gatorade and couldn't go get more until Monday night. Geez! We survived it though. One positive was that we lost a few pounds just in time for the beach!



I wish I could say we were well, but Harrison got sent home again today throwing up. I am beyond swamped at work and had a total breakdown when daycare called. He was totally fine this morning! I feel awful though. Luckily Joel, sensing my stress, went and got him and took him straight to the doctor. Hmm maybe he should get Husband of the Year honors back. :) He didn't even call and make an appointment. He just showed up! I guess dads can get away with that. Anyway, it's another ear infection. I'm at home with him now trying to de-stress for a little while and take care of my sweet baby. We seriously need our beach vacation to get here pronto! We ALL need a break!

Location:Mother's Day

The Potty Chronicles

I think all my posts recently have been about the potty, but that is our life right now! :) I just want to say that I am so proud of my little bud. He has come light years since Friday and I'm so glad that I kept pushing him and didn't give up because he can do this! He isn't thrilled about it sometimes, but he's getting the hang of it.

After the "incident" Friday after lunch, I put Hudson down for a nap and surprisingly, he woke up dry! He immediately went when he got up and then we headed out to a cabinet store where he proceeded to put a puddle on the floor within two minutes of us getting there. He just looked up at me and whispered, "Uh oh Mommy, I did it." It was very discreet thankfully and I think I got it cleaned up and got him out of there without anyone ever noticing! However, then we went out to dinner and Hudson went while we were out! I'm not thrilled with the public potty situation, but I guess I just have to get over it because we've pretty much hit up every potty in every place we've been to recently.

I went ahead and put him in a diaper to sleep in over the weekend, but he has woken up dry every single morning since. Before we started this, he was soaking through overnight diapers so I didn't feel like we were anywhere near ready to do without diapers at night. Maybe I am wrong about that--I'm still not ready to chance it yet though! He did great all day Saturday (we had a very busy day) and all day Sunday at the lake.

Then came school yesterday. I was so worried because they haven't really been the most helpful with this. I knew I was just going to have to send him in big boy underwear for them to realize that they have to help or else they will be cleaning up pee all day. I sent about 5 new outfits and was so proud of him when he came home in the same outfit! He did great! He did have an accident today, but he is starting to tell them when he needs to go. We are making so much progress here!

I guess in a way we did the boot camp, but just a revised version! I have not put a regular diaper on him since Friday except at nighttime. I just can't stay home and do nothing but potty train for 3 days. It's just not feasible for us right now. We have too much going on. I did use a lot of what the boot camp recommended and I think it is a great method--definitely by Sunday, Hudson was getting the hang of things. And, I am still shocked that he is waking up dry. The boot camp was adament that they would be night time potty trained by the end of it and I thought, never in a million years, but maybe so!

Ok, so enough about the potty! We had such a fun weekend! Hudson had his last Saturday of t-ball and they played a game! It was so cute. I was pretty amazed at how far he came over the four Saturdays. It doesn't seem like a lot, but he wouldn't even stay out there the first Saturday and this Saturday, he was all about it. He had some good hits and ran the bases.

He was proud of his certificate!

He had a cheering squad too! Migi and Pops and Uncle Jordan and Anna all came to watch him play! He was thrilled to have them there!

Saturday afternoon, we headed to a crawfish boil at the Creel's. It was so fun! They had the absolute best back yard. This was Hudson surveying the live crawfish when we first got there...he was a little scared at first.

One of the guys put a poor crawfish out for all the kids to play with (I really mean torture). They had a ball playing with this little guy! It was hilarious.

Of course Hudson would not eat a crawfish, but he sure had fun watching everyone peel the crawfish. Harrison was there too, but I didn't get any pictures of him. He was pretty good until he got sleepy. We stayed until after 8 so it was way past his bedtime. I thought I could get him to fall asleep while we were there, but he just refused. Hudson had so much fun playing with all of his friends. There were probably 15 or so kids there so it was wild. He did not want to leave! Thank you to the Creel's for having us over! It was such a fun night out!

Sunday morning, we got up and headed to the lake for the day. We got in a good visit with Papa John. Harrison LOVED Papa John. He was so cute with him. I was glad that Harrison was so sweet with him because Hudson wouldn't pay him any attention other than a quick high five.

We had a great day riding the gator and visiting. We also checked out the Southern Living home in Cedar Bluff, which was beautiful! The lake was too low to put the boat in, but hopefully it will come up soon! I know there's one 3 year old who is itching to get on that boat!

It was a great weekend, but I'm still recovering! Tonight is the only night this week that we don't have something going on, so I'm ready for next weekend. Hopefully, we can catch up on some rest (and laundry!). And, I hope I can finish Hunger Games--I know I'm late in reading it, but it is SOOO good!